Pentascape Blog

Tech Translations - What is hosting?

5th December 2018
by
Vix Johnson and
Alex Weeden

Chances are you are currently paying for hosting in some form, but do you fully understand what it is you are paying for? You may have been assured by your team that you need it, but not fully understand why.

In this tech translation, we help break through the technical jargon surrounding these essential services.

What is Hosting?

Hosting is a blanket term for storing data on a type of computer called a server. Servers can store a variety of things such as files, emails, or even whole websites. When you go to view any of these items, your own computer or device sends a request for the information through the internet to a server, which then sends it back. The host is the company or person who owns and maintains the server.

Hosting can vary hugely in complexity, from very simple cPanel setups to incredibly complex arrangements covering failovers and redundancies, and this can make it daunting to find the correct solution for your needs. We are going to talk in terms of website or web app hosting, as this is the most common paid-for service. These are some of the options you might be confronted with, and an explanation of what services your host actually provides;

Shared Hosting

The most common option for web hosting, shared hosting is when lots of different people’s websites are kept on the same server. This is a low-cost option, but it does come with some risks. For example if one website on the server becomes corrupted, it can spread to others on the same infrastructure. If a website also encounters a large load (lots of visitors at once - for example during a sale, or even a DoS “Denial of Service” which can happen when someone deliberately injects crappy code to cause trouble on a site), then it can slow down, or even take down, the whole server and affect other websites kept there too.

While as a client you are responsible for maintaining your own code, hosting companies will of course put measures in place to reduce these risks to the server; such as firewalls, encrypted uploads (SFTP) and continual monitoring.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is when you have a server to yourself. This will cost more, but it means no-one else has use of the same infrastructure, making it both more reliable and more secure, as it mitigates some of the risks with shared servers. This of course doesn’t guarantee 100% uptime - there’s no accounting for hardware failures or even Dedicated DoS attacks. Your host should again take measures to prevent these issues, as well as you adequately maintaining your own code.

Cloud Hosting

‘Cloud’ is a term that is quite broad in its meaning. In the context of hosting, cloud usually refers to a network of physical servers, designed to work together to provide more resilient hosting, including built-in protection against the failure of one specific component (failover) and the ability to use more or less physical hardware depending on need (scalability).

Cloud hosting makes use of virtual servers. A virtual server is an emulated server - it behaves like a real physical server, and it sits on physical servers underneath the hood - but the difference is that it can easily move between or be spread across multiple physical servers. The advantage of a virtual server is that it does not have to be bought, physically maintained or repaired, it is abstracted from the responsibility and risk associated with the underlying hardware components.

For example, a virtual server may have its files mirrored on several physical servers, so in the event of a hardware failure - it can be rebooted in a different location, most likely with its files intact.

Virtual servers aren’t a panacea, they do still suffer outage, and they’re not immune to increased load either. But they are often protected against other users of the same service consuming more resources, as they’re usually capped to prevent this. Many hosting providers offer a single virtual server to lease, known as a VPS (Virtual Private Server).

Infrastructure as a Service

Some cloud providers have gone a step further than hosting, to offer a range of services that can be termed infrastructure. They provide not only virtual servers, but many other services which can make developing, running and maintaining a website or web app far easier.

Additionally, they have moved toward new cost models which allow for a lot of flexibility. For example, virtual servers are often billed for granularly based on usage, down to the hour and sometimes even the minute or second. The servers can be turned on or off at any given moment, and can be scheduled. If you only need your development servers while your developer is at work, they can be configured to start & stop between 8AM and 6PM, Monday-Friday - resulting in 200 hours usage a month instead of approximately 720.

Some providers of cloud infrastructure include AWS, Google and Microsoft Azure. There are many advantages of such services, and can be particularly powerful if the infrastructure is designed at at the same time as you build your app. These services are well suited to apps and websites which are complex, require a lot of resources, or expect high volumes of traffic.

What is Managed Service Hosting?

As you can see, there are plenty of potential risks with hosting. If you rely on a website or app to drive your business, you need to know that it will always be available to your customers. Managed service hosting is when a provider takes on the task of managing and maintaining the hosting of your web services (your website or app), so you no longer need to worry about managing servers or anything related to the availability of your web service to your users. This is particularly effective when either you don’t have an IT team, or the IT team doesn’t have the capacity to handle web services on top of their on-site responsibilities.

At Pentascape we offer managed service hosting - our engineers are certified specialists in AWS cloud infrastructure and will work to identify the best solution for your needs. Our approach covers:

High AvailabilityEnsuring your web services are resistant to failure, often aiming for up to 99.9% availability

Monitoring & Incident CoverBy actively keeping an eye on your service, when things hit the fan (and they always do) we will immediately start working to resolve the issue

Pro-active critical infrastructure patches, updates, upgrades and security recommendationsKeeping servers up to date and patched with the latest security releases

Backups & Failover
Ensuring that critical components of your application are backed up periodically and that failovers are in place to ensure high availability for example, your database server should not only be backed up but also have a warm standby, so when it does fail, there is a second server ready and waiting to go with all the up-to-date data as if nothing ever happened

Disaster recovery plan and quarterly DR reviewEven with the best laid plans, disasters happen - DR plans outline what happens when they do and allow your service to recover as quickly as possible

Technology Roadmap & Cost ReviewAre you getting the best use out of your current setup? Can we improve it? Is a new technology available to simplify a process? Have you changed how you run your business and do we need to adjust how the technology works for you?

Want to know more about
Managed Services?

Let us know your thoughts

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Pentascape Limited understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your
information is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits Our Site
and will only collect and use information in ways that are useful to you and in a manner consistent with
your rights and Our obligations under the law.

This Policy applies to Our use of any and all data collected by us in relation to your use of Our Site.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it. Your acceptance of Our
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with this Privacy Policy, you must stop using Our Site immediately.

Definitions and Interpretation

In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:

“Account”

means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;

“Cookie”

means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain
parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used
by Our Site are set out in section 12, below;

“Our Site”

means this website, http://www.pentascape.com/;

“UK and EU Cookie Law”

means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003 as amended in 2004, 2011 and 2015; and

“We/Us/Our”

means Pentascape Limited, a limited company registered in England under 09343671 whose
registered address is Office 17, The Business Terrace, King Street, Maidstone, ME15 6AW and
whose main trading address is Office 17, The Business Terrace, King Street, Maidstone, ME15
6AW.

Scope – What Does This Policy Cover?
This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of Our Site. It does not extend to any websites that are
linked to from Our Site (whether We provide those links or whether they are shared by other users). We
have no control over how your data is collected, stored or used by other websites and We advise you to
check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

What Data Do We Collect?
Some data will be collected automatically by Our Site (for further details, please see section 12 on
Our use of Cookies, other data will only be collected if you voluntarily submit it, for example, when
signing up for an Account. Depending upon your use of Our Site, We may collect some or all of the
following data:

name;

business/company name;

job title;

profession;

contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;

demographic information such as post code, preferences and interests;

IP address (automatically collected);

web browser type and version (automatically collected);

operating system (automatically collected);

a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on Our Site, and the site you exit to
(automatically collected);

any information provided when submitting a contact form on Our Site

How Do We Use Your Data?

All personal data is stored securely in accordance with the principles of the Data
Protection Act 1998. For more details on security see section 6, below.5.2 We use your data to
provide the best possible services to you. This includes:

Providing and managing your Account;

Providing and managing your access to Our Site;

Personalising and tailoring your experience on Our Site;

Supplying Our products and services to you;

Personalising and tailoring Our products and services for you;

Responding to communications from you;

Supplying you with email that you have subscribed to (you may unsubscribe or opt-out at any
time by following the unsubscribe link in the email;

Market research;

Analysing your use of Our Site and gathering feedback to enable Us to continually improve Our
Site and your user experience;

With your permission and/or
where permitted by law, We may also use your data for marketing purposes which may include
contacting you by email or telephone or text message or post with information, news and offers on
Our services. We will not, however, send you any unsolicited marketing or spam and will take all
reasonable steps to ensure that We fully protect your rights and comply with Our obligations under
the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003, as amended in 2004, 2011 and 2015.

How and Where Do We Store Your Data?

We only keep your data for as long as We need to in order to use it as described above in section
5, and/or for as long as We have your permission to keep it.6.2 Some or all of your data may be
stored or transferred outside of the European Economic Area (“the EEA”) (The EEA consists of all EU
member states, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). You are deemed to accept and agree to this
by using Our Site and submitting information to Us. If We do store or transfer data outside the EEA,
We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated as safely and securely as it
would be within the EEA and under the Data Protection Act 1998. Such steps may include, but not be
limited to, the use of legally binding contractual terms between Us and any third parties We engage
and the use of the EU-approved Model Contractual Arrangements.

Data security is of great importance to Us, and to protect your data We have put in place suitable
physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure data collected through Our
Site.

Notwithstanding the security measures that We take, it is important to remember that the
transmission of data via the internet may not be completely secure and that you are advised to take
suitable precautions when transmitting to Us data via the internet.

Do We Share Your Data?

We may share your data with other companies or brands in Our group. This includes Our subsidiaries

We may sometimes contract with third parties to supply products and services to you on Our behalf.
These may include payment processing, delivery of goods, search engine facilities, advertising and
marketing. In some cases, the third parties may require access to some or all of your data. Where
any of your data is required for such a purpose, We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that
your data will be handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, Our obligations, and
the obligations of the third party under the law.

We may compile statistics about the use of Our Site including data on traffic, usage patterns,
user numbers, sales and other information. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any
personally identifying information. We may from time to time share such data with third parties such
as prospective investors, affiliates, partners and advertisers. Data will only be shared and used
within the bounds of the law.

In certain circumstances We may be legally required to share certain data held by Us, which may
include your personal information, for example, where We are involved in legal proceedings, where We
are complying with the requirements of legislation, a court order, or a governmental authority. We
do not require any further consent from you in order to share your data in such circumstances and
will comply as required with any legally binding request that is made of Us.

What Happens If Our Business Changes Hands?

We may, from time to time, expand or reduce Our business and this may involve the sale and/or the
transfer of control of all or part of Our business. Data provided by users will, where it is
relevant to any part of Our business so transferred, be transferred along with that part and the new
owner or newly controlling party will, under the terms of this Privacy Policy, be permitted to use
the data for the purposes for which it was originally collected by Us.

In the event that any of your data is to be transferred in such a manner, you will be contacted in
advance and informed of the changes.

How Can You Control Your Data?

When you submit information via Our Site, you may be given options to restrict Our use of your
data. In particular, We aim to give you strong controls on Our use of your data for direct marketing
purposes (including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from Us which you may do by
unsubscribing using the links provided in Our emails and at the point of providing your details)

You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The
Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”),
and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited
marketing. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing
communications that you have consented to receiving.

Your Right to Withhold Information

You may access Our Site without providing any data at all.

You may restrict your internet browser’s use of Cookies. For more information, see section 12.

How Can You Access Your Data?

You have the legal right to ask for a copy of any of your personal data held by Us (where such data
is held). Please contact Us for more details at hello@pentascape.com, or using the contact details
below in section 13.

What Cookies Do We Use and What For?

Our Site may place and access certain first party Cookies on your computer or device. First party
Cookies are those placed directly by Us and are used only by Us. We use Cookies to facilitate and
improve your experience of Our Site and to provide and improve Our products and services. For more
details, please refer to section 5, above, and to section 12.6 below. We have carefully chosen these
Cookies and have taken steps to ensure that your privacy is protected and respected at all times.

By using Our Site you may also receive certain third party Cookies on your computer or device.
Third party Cookies are those placed by websites, services, and/or parties other than Us. We use
third party Cookies on Our Site for <<insert description of use of third party cookies, e.g.
advertising services>>. For more details, please refer to section 5, above, and to section
12.6 below. These Cookies are not integral to the functioning of Our Site.

All Cookies used by and on Our Site are used in accordance with current UK and EU Cookie Law.

Before any Cookies are placed on your computer or device, subject to section 12.5 and section
12.8, you will be shown a Prompt requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your
consent to the placing of Cookies you are enabling Us to provide the best possible experience and
service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain
features of Our Site may not function fully or as intended.

Certain features of Our Site depend on Cookies to function. UK and EU Cookie Law deems these
Cookies to be “strictly necessary”. These Cookies are shown below in section 12.6. Your consent will
not be sought to place these Cookies. You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet
browser’s settings as detailed below in section 12.10, but please be aware that Our Site may not
work as intended if you do so. We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk
by allowing them.

The following first party Cookies may be placed on your computer or device:

Name of Cookie

Purpose

Strictly Necessary

N/A

and the following third party Cookies may be placed on your computer or device:

Name of Cookie

Provider

Purpose

N/A

Our Site uses analytics services provided by Google Analytics. Website analytics refers to a set
of tools used to collect and analyse usage statistics, enabling Us to better understand how people
use Our Site. This, in turn, enables Us to improve Our Site and the products and services offered
through it. You do not have to allow Us to use these Cookies, as detailed below, however whilst Our
use of them does not pose any risk to your privacy or your safe use of Our Site, it does enable Us
to continually improve Our Site, making it a better and more useful experience for you.

The analytics service(s) used by Our Site use(s) Cookies to gather the required information.
Certain of these Cookies may be placed immediately when you first visit Our Site and it may not be
possible for Us to obtain your prior consent. You may remove these Cookies and prevent future use of
them by following the steps set out below in section 12.10.

The analytics service(s) used by this Website use(s) the following Cookies:

Name of Cookie

First / Third Party

Provider

Purpose

_gid

Pentascape

Google

Used to distinguish users

_ga

Pentascape

Google

Used to distinguish users

_gat

Pentascape

Google

Used to throttle request rate

You can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. Most internet browsers also
enable you to choose whether you wish to disable all cookies or only third party cookies. By
default, most internet browsers accept Cookies but this can be changed. For further details, please
consult the help menu in your internet browser or the documentation that came with your device.

You can choose to delete Cookies at any time however you may lose any information that enables you
to access Our Site more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, login and
personalisation settings.

It is recommended that you keep your internet browser and operating system up-to-date and that you
consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser and manufacturer of
your computer or device if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about Our Site or this Privacy Policy, please contact Us by email at
hello@pentascape.com by telephone on 01622 320 247, or by post at Frederick House, Brewer Street,
Maidstone, Kent, England, ME14 1RY. Please ensure that your query is clear, particularly if it is a
request for information about the data We hold about you (as under section 11, above).

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time, or as may be required
by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on Our Site and you will be deemed to have accepted the
terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of Our Site following the alterations. We recommend that
you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date.